It is a glorious, sunny September day on the south coast at Hove and the crowds are out in force on the promenade, but something is bothering Richard Montgomerie. "The swimming conditions have been terrible," he says, gazing folornly out to sea. "I've usually been in at least once by now, but I just haven't been tempted so far this year."

Notwithstanding this summer's bizarre weather, it has been another successful season for Montgomerie, an opening batsman. His county, Sussex, are the reigning champions and could well retain their title when the season ends today - an occasion which for some marks the end of summer in itself. But regardless of how things turn out, Montgomerie knows this season may be his last.

While the treadmill of the international game rolls on, county professionals around the country will today pack away their kit bags and, for another winter at least, head for pastures new. And, at 36, and on a year-to-year contract, he knows there is no guarantee he will be still be needed next spring.

"Up until last season I would always have said I want to play for as long as possible," he says. "Then circumstances changed. You suddenly think, well, I'm going to have to make a decision. But if I don't get offered a contract, it saves me having to decide."

For the last couple of winters Montogmerie has been studying for an Open University PGCE qualification and the circumstances in question are "two or three" offers to teach chemistry next year. It is hardly surprising - the prospect of a scientist and a cricket coach rolled into one must be irresistible for potential employers.

"I was doing some module work this morning! Very exciting it was," he enthuses. "This winter I've got an eight-week and a 10-week [school] placement. I have talked to a couple of schools. That's why I've got to make a decision, there are jobs there for me."

County players are contracted for seven months a year, from March to September. Salaries vary dramatically, ranging from around £25,000 up to £100,000-plus. Montgomerie, in the "lower-middle" of that spectrum, will this year also pocket the tax-free proceeds of a benefit season from Sussex.

When you consider that players are free to pursue other interests in the winters, it sounds like a comfortable life - so why is it that research, published by the author David Frith in his book Silence of the Heart, suggests ex-cricketers are more liable to commit suicide than people in other trades?

"One of the things about being a cricketer is that, in the eyes of the public, you are someone, then you're very quickly not someone," Montgomerie says. "I've played in an era when salaries have improved. You now earn enough over seven months to keep you going for a whole year. But in the past, you've not had the security of a decent salary, you didn't create any skills outside because you were just concentrating on cricket.

"The Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) is now much better at making players aware that there is going to be a life after cricket. There is a statistic that suggests ex-cricketers are more liable to commit suicide than people in other jobs - I'm lucky I know what I want to do and it's falling into place. If you'd talked to me three or four years ago, I might not have been so certain."

While many players spend winters honing their skills with clubs in Australia or South Africa, they can often be found putting their entrepreneurial talents to good use at home - the former Surrey players Ed Giddins and Nadeem Shahid ran a successful Christmas tree business for four years. It took Montgomerie several winters of experimentation before settling on teaching.

"In my first year out of university I worked for a chemical company, Scott Bader, for a winter," he says. "Then I went to Australia for a year and played cricket in the Sydney League. After that, I had a couple of winters with Ernst & Young, as a trainee accountant, but I couldn't do the exams as I was playing cricket in the summer.

"For the first two years at Sussex I got to know people, trained hard. I taught chemistry and maths at Brighton College for two winters. Then I had a winter where I went travelling. For the last couple I've been doing the PGCE."

Summers are a gruelling haul of motorways and hotel living. Montgomerie is married and, as yet, without children, but agrees it can be tough on those with young families. "It's quite an intensive four or five months of travel," he says. "Like any other job where you live in hotels, the excitement dies down after a few years."

The Sussex players travel independently to away games, riding two or three to a car "which is quite entertaining depending on who's driving", unless it is a really long haul, in which case they all go by coach. Typically they arrive at the ground a day early, in time for a training session. Montgomerie says players' fitness levels have improved immeasurably in recent years. "In the old days, after a game everyone would go for a beer," he says. "Now you're rushing straight back to the hotel for a swim and sauna."

He grew up in thrall of the star-studded England batting lineup of the early 1980s. "Graham Gooch and Ian Botham, David Gower to an extent, Mike Gatting ..." he says, reeling off the list of his early heroes. "The 1981 Ashes series, when Botham was at his best, is key in my memory. My first Test match, watching Bob Willis bowl the biggest no-ball I've ever seen..."

At Rugby school, his teachers tipped off talent scouts from his local county club, Northamptonshire. "Becoming a county cricketer was not something I planned," he recalls. "But at the end of my last year at school I was offered a contract [by Northamptonshire]. And because you were offered it, at that age you did it. Northants took me through university, which was great."

His full debut came quickly, in 1991, during his first year at Oxford, but Montgomerie was restricted by his studies to fleeting appearances and had to wait for his break. "I was lucky, really, that one of the Northants players got injured. I played and scored a hundred, and straight out of university I played for the rest of the season."

Despite the promising start, he struggled to hold down his place and spent most of the next four years in and out of the side. In 1998, with his career in the doldrums, he was released by Northamptonshire. In retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise.

"I was lucky because various people had talked to each other, and Sussex became aware I was available," he says. "I'd spoken briefly to them in that season and it all worked out really well. They were keen to have me. I came down here in pre-season and scored runs, and got a place in the side."

Little did Montgomerie know then that he was about to share in a period of unprecedented success at Sussex. Indeed, the signs were initially less than auspicious when the club finished bottom of the Second Division in 2000. It was a low point, he says, "But it probably made us want to win more, and that's what happened."

In the years since, Sussex have won the title twice, including the double last season when they also triumphed in the one-day C&G Trophy - not bad for a player who was supposedly on the scrapheap at the age of 27.

"The whole nine years at Sussex, to be part of a team that has grown into a trophy-winning side, has been amazing," he reflects. It is as if even now, more than 14,000 first-class runs later, he can barely believe his luck. "It's quite unusual for someone like me to have lasted this long in the game, especially if they haven't pushed for England, because counties are always looking for that better player. I was released by Northants because I supposedly wasn't good enough. But there must be plenty of other players who were released at that stage, who went and did something else."

If it disappoints him that he never represented England, he is honest about his shortcomings. "I've just never stood out with the quality of my play," he says. "But anybody who plays cricket for a length of time has periods where you think, 'goodness, he's a good player'. If you didn't, you wouldn't be playing, if you see what I mean."

Now, on the cusp of a teaching career, there is much for him to look forward to - not least the novel concept of career advancement. "As a cricketer I'm an opening batsman, as I was when I started 16 years ago," he says. "But it's still the same work, you're not progressing."

His father, who was also a teacher, will be on hand to dole out advice when needed. "And I'll be able to use my experience as a cricketer to coach and to teach. You're in an enforced team as a cricketer - that's hopefully what all life is about, isn't it?"

And with that he strolls off, not back to the pavilion, but to his desk where another PGCE module awaits.

Curriculum vitae

Current position

Opening batsman, Sussex County Cricket Club

Qualifications

Degree in Chemistry, Worcester College, Oxford. Currently studying for an Open University PGCE

Career highs

"Winning the County Championship with Sussex in 2003. Also winning the C&G Trophy last year, because I'd played two finals before that with Northants and lost both."

Career low

"When our Sussex team-mate Umer Rashid drowned during a pre-season tour of Grenada in 2002. That was a very difficult time."